Swiss Cheese Fondue has a special place in my heart. To eat Cheese Fondue at the Frankfurt Christmas Market has been mine and my husband’s tradition since 2015, because that year, during Christmas time we got married. Form that time on, we have been celebrating our anniversaries with hot mulled wine and Cheese Fondue.
This year we are forced to celebrate this special day at home and therefore I have decided to share with you my favourite Swiss Fondue recipe.
This mouth-watering dish comes from the Western Alps and it’s nothing else than melted cheese that is served with mouth-sized bread cubes or/and hard-boiled potatoes. The cheese mixture is usually prepared in Caquelon which is made of ceramic that is set over a source of heat, usually fire. Apart from cheese Swiss cheese Fondue contains garlic, starch, wine, cherry spirit and pepper, optionally.
Talking about ingredients it is important that you use freshly grated cheese for your Swiss cheese fondue. You can easily and quickly get this done by using a food processor. Make sure you buy cheeses that you actually like. If you are preparing cheese fondue for somebody who doesn’t like strong-smelling cheeses go for milder once. Here is the list of all traditional cheese-mixture combinations that you can use to prepare your Swiss cheese fondue:
8 Traditional Cheese-Mixtures:
- Cheese fondue moitié-moitié (Fribourg) – 50% Vacherin + 50% Gruyère
- Fondue Fribourgeoise – 100% Vacherin
- Fondue Appenzeller – 100% Appenzeller (strong)
- Fondue from Neuenburg – 50% Gruyère + 50% Emmentaler (mild)
- Fondue Franche-Comte – 100% Comté
- Fondue Savoyarde – 33% Emmentaller + 33% Beaufort + 33% Comté
- Fondue form the center of Switzerland – 33% Gruyère + 33% Emmentaler + 33% Sbrinz
- Fondue from Wallis – 50% Vacherin + 25% Gruyère + 25% Raclette
Swiss cheese fondue is easy and quick to prepare, but I still have few tips for you to follow, to make sure your fondue party goes smoothly. Fondue should be a relaxing dinner and to ensure that you might want to follow the tips below.
Tips for making perfect Cheese Fondue:
- For cheese fondue use one-day-old bread – the cheese sticks to it better.
- Make sure you buy 200g of bread and/or potatoes as well as 200g cheese per person.
- Get the side dishes ready (cook the potatoes and/or cut the bread), before you start preparing cheese fondue.
- Rub the ceramic pot with garlic, before you put the cheese to it.
- Use freshly grated cheese for your fondue.
- Never stop stirring the cheese mixture while preparing cheese fondue. The goal is for all ingredients to combine so the mixture is nice and smooth.
In case something goes wrong remember, there is always way to fix it!
- Fondue is too thin: Mix some corn starch in wine or cherry spirit and dissolve while stirring. Increase the heat and add the mixture to the cheese, stir constantly and simmer until the fondue sets
- Fondue is too thickIncrease the heat, add a little white wine to the cheese and stir.
- Fondue separates
Mix the corn starch with a little white wine or lemon juice. Increase the heat and stir until the ingredients combine.
Now that you have all that knowledge I hope that you feel well prepared to organise one fondue evening for you and your loved once. I promise – that will be a relaxing one! So get some wine (white or red – it really doesn’t matter) or hot tea, gather around the table with the long fondue forks and have a lot of fun soaking bread and potatoes in the cheese-mixture.
More Christmas Market Recipes:
Christmas Market Drinks
Roasted Chestnuts
Flammkuchen
Potato Pancakes
Candied Almonds
Elisen Gingerbread Cookies
Marzipan Potatoes
German Christmas Market Fondue Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 Garlic clove
- 200 g Emmentaler
- 200 g Gruyère
- 180 ml White wine
- 25 ml Cherry spirit
- 1/2 tbsp Corn starch
- Salt optional
- Pepper optional
For Serving
- 4 Hard-boiled, jacket potatoes
- 400 g White bread or 2-3 bread rolls
Instructions
Prepare the ingredients
- Peel the garlic clove. Cut it in half crosswise.
- Grate and mix the cheeses in the medium bowl.
- Get the liquids and starch ready.
Prepare Fondue
- Rub the ceramic fondue pot with garlic from inside. Put the rest of the garlic through the garlic grinder and add it to the pot.
- Turn on the heat to medium, add the wine and starch and mix until starch dissolves.
- Add cheese and keep on mixing without the break until the cheese and wine-starch mixture combine. That might take 10-15 minutes so stay patient with it.
- As soon as the ingredients combined add the cherry spirit and stir it in for another minute.
- Turn the heat to low.
- Serve immediately with bread and potatoes.
Notes
- Plan 200-250g cheese mixture and at least 200g bread per person
- Prepare all ingredients, before you start melting the cheese
- Make sure you use freshly grated cheese
- Keep on stirring the fondue, even when your arm hurts 🙂 it will be worth it!
- Use one-day-old bread – the cheese sticks to it better
- Fondue is too thin: Mix some corn starch in wine or cherry spirit and dissolve while stirring. Increase the heat and add the mixture to the cheese, stir constantly and simmer until the fondue sets
- Fondue is too thick Increase the heat, add a little white wine to the cheese and stir.
- Fondue separates
Mix the corn starch with a little white wine or lemon juice. Increase the heat and stir until the ingredients combine.
Other Christmas Market Videos:
German food at Frankfurt Christmas Market
German Christmas Market Food Recipes – 6 German Hot Drinks
8 German Christmas Cookies
5 Drinks to try at the German Christmas Market
